Lent is off to a good start. At one of the four masses yesterday (I believe Ash Wednesday is the day of highest mass attendance all year at Assumption), I was pleasantly surprised to hear the words "Remember, man, you are dust and to dust you will return" as ash was wiped onto my forehead, rather than the modern "Repent, and believe in the gospel." Although the new words are hardly among the worst innovations of the new liturgy, as Father said, the old ones are a powerful imperative to set our lives straight which most Catholics are deprived of.

Today was also witness to a happy anomaly. I cannot figure it out. Assumption College is so sensitive to everything racial. We have an office of multicultural affairs, and there have been more racial healing retreats, lectures, and pow-wows than I can count on my fingers and toes. And yet, to celebrate Black History Month, Taylor Dining Hall actually had a special dinner featuring fried chicken, catfish, cornbread, and other conspicuously Southern goodies as if they were as definitively black as the national dishes we enjoy in our periodic around-the-world style events. Many students have said for weeks, possibly correctly, that the meal was racist (though one of the best Taylor has offered- went up for 2nds of catfish and 3rds of cornbread- so I'm glad they went ahead with it). Can somebody tell me if this food is really authentically "black" in any way, or has Assumption just set race relations back another decade?

Black History Month has not been celebrated with the energy I expected- a few displays in the library, the meal, an event or two on the tail of MLK day- but race is a subject of frequent discussion at the college, and the dialogue has not abated. As I have said, the stream of events is not confined to the month of February, and we never go too long without being talked at about racism or a related subject, or urged to strive for this asymptotic racial healing, harmony, etc. It can all get awfully annoying. While it is certainly a good thing that racial hatred has been greatly diminished over the last few decades, some time or other the multiculturalism people need to realize that their goal of a colorblind society is impossible, a utopia of sorts. An ideology, which like all ideology doubtless leads to harmful excess if its pursuit is not moderated.

Race is natural, an extended family of sorts and, an whatever the pros and cons of it, an instinctual line by which people group and divide themselves. Ever been to a middle or high school cafeteria? True, as we mature, these divisions weaken, somewhat, but this coincides with the breakdown of traditional social cliques which makes college so enjoyable. And as far as adults go, as one indication, mixed race marriages are still quite uncommon. Some level of racism will always be with us, that no amount of social engineering would be able to exorcise. Predictably, the perennial drilling against racism has led to white resentment at all the guilt we are supposed to bear.

That lecturing devolves into browbeating is simply inevitable. Hence some of my acquaintances, here and elsewhere, have bemoaned Black History Month and recommended its elimination in their conversations (this all is too sensitive and politically incorrect to be discussed at most events). One even suggested that there be a White History Month (in my mind, this would merely answer the egging-on of the multi-culti folks in kind, creating more resentment and division); a friend answered that the other 11 months of the year are white history months, although on this point I couldn't agree less: no one ever calls Richard Wright and Dr. King "dead black males". However, this too seems to be an excess of sorts, too: blacks have a right to celebrate their history. The celebration is only a problem when whites and people of other races are made to join in the celebrations (while few events on campus are really mandatory, the attendences at many events dealing with race or other politically liberal topics are artificially inflated by the assignment of extra credit work by professors). Without an equivalent period to celebrate the achievements of the race of the vast majority, a feeling (even if it is just a feeling) of guilt and shame ensues, causing resentment. And as I've said, if there was, a nonsensical competition would ensue.

Every American has learned about the accomplishments of blacks and other nonwhites in grade school, and that was sufficient or more than sufficient. I don't care how smashing a lineup of speakers we get, or how many, it will not create a colorblind society (the keynote speaker at the annual MLK Jr. dinner attended by many of the big organizations on campus, Father Savage of my own Diocese of Springfield, was spectacular not because he discussed race, but because his focus was on virtue and vocation in the words of Dr. King and others). Would an absolutely colorblind society even be a good thing? While race does divide us, without these divisions it would be much more difficult to preserve particular cultures and community character. And since the races would eventually become blurred or even disappear, everyone would look the same, and this vaunted diversity we celebrate would be no more. Again, this is not to say that race is an undiminished good, but how much more good can be done? The sporadic racial incident here or off campus inevitably produces an uproar from the community, even though the perpetrators are virtually always inane and unintelligent hooligans- and I assure you, they will always be with us.